I’d like to share you a few thoughts that may help you on your weight loss journey. The words we speak are very powerful and those words create an attitude. How often have you used the term, “my weight?” You may have made the comments like these:

Do see a common thread throughout these statements? Can you make an educated guess at how many times you have said one of them or something similar? From our earlier discussion, you probably already noticed the “negative” affirmations . . . when . . .doesn’t . . . can’t. . . Read them again more carefully. Do you see the other critical factor in each statement?

Each of those statements re-affirms that you “own” your weight. Therefore, each time you make that comment not only are you reaffirming your current weight, you are pronouncing to the world that you are not willing to let go.

Your Destination...Loss Weight

Using a personal pronoun is powerful stuff, because not only are you claiming ownership, you are training your subconscious mind to believe that you can’t let go.

Starting today . . . right now . . . this very minute, make a conscious decision that you no longer accept ownership of excess weight. You are not what you weigh. You are a unique human being and entitled to all the gifts that this life has to offer.

Avoid “fad” diets. If you don’t believe me, ask your doctor about these: negative calorie diets, extremely low calorie diets, low carb diets, and any other type of “fad” diet that is unbalanced. Changing diet should be a matter of healthier life style. Learn all you can about different foods and nutrition. The more you know

the easier it is to implement healthy nutrition in your diet.

1. Substitute fruit purees for butter or margarine. They are easy to prepare in a food processor and will significantly reduce calories and fat.

2. Cheese is good for you, but the fat is not. Try this: Zap cheese in the microwave and drain off grease.

3. Exercising before you eat just makes you hungrier. Exercise AFTER eating when the body has to work harder to digest food.

4. Don’t eat while watching television. You can become so engrossed in your program that don’t realize how much you are eating.

5. Too many people skip breakfast. Eat in the morning when the body burns more calories.

6. Water mixed with fructose suppresses appetite better than glucose with water or diet drinks. Drink a glass of orange juice one half to one hour before a meal.

8. Switch from whole to skim milk. All the nutrients are there without the fat. Okay, at least cut back to low fat!

9. Limit yourself to just four egg yolks a week.

10. Trim all fat from meats before cooking. You’ll be amazed at how much you reduce your fat intake if you take this one small step.

11. Eliminate fried foods. Do we need to say why?

12. Cream sauces like Alfredo and hollandaise are loaded with fat.Use tomato based sauces instead of cream.

13. Use lemon juice or low sodium soy sauce for flavor.

14. Don’t skip meals. When you do, you eat more at your next meal and usually eat the wrong foods.

15. Read labels – check fat, sugar and carb content.

16. Stop buying on impulse. Never shop for groceries without a list.

17. Avoid shopping when you are hungry – eat first!

18. Shop for groceries once a week and only buy from your prepared list.

19. Head directly to the fruit and vegetable aisles when you enter the grocery store. Fill up your basket in these aisles and you’ll be less likely to buy binge food.

20. If you have a local “farmers market” where you can buy your fruits and veggies off the truck, by all means do so. They’ll be fresher and tastier.

21. Make sure you buy everything you need for your weekly meal planning. Returning to the grocery store numerous times increases the risk of buying what you shouldn’t. The grocery stores know their business very well and present items that are hard to resist.

22. Vary your foods – introduce something new each week. Menu planning can become boring when you eat the same things. That boredom translates into over eating. Try new healthy recipes each week.

23. Stay away from processed foods as much as possible. Yes, they are very convenient. They are also loaded with fat and/or sugar,not to mention the chemicals.

24. The ads are soooo compelling. Cut fast food from your diet!

25. Eat more fish but avoid breading or batters. Fish oil is good for you.

28. Use fat free or low fat salad dressings or make your own using lemon juice, spices and a tiny amount of olive oil.

29. Exchange water for soft drinks – yes, even diet drinks!

30. Slim down with casseroles – just use lean meat and veggies.

31. Go ahead and snack, just snack on good stuff, like raisins, nuts veggies and dried fruit.

32. Never eat while you are standing.

33. Don’t sample when you are cooking. A taste here, a little bite there and before you know it you’ve eaten an entire portions without sitting down at the table!

34. Don’t give up potatoes. A baked potato has 0 grams of fat and only 160 calories. Just don’t eat fries that weigh in at 13 fat grams and 480 calories!

35. Stay away from pastries. They are loaded with fat and are also loaded with sugar.

36. Eat more salads but don’t let salad become boring. Add different ingredients. Throw in a few raisins, canned beans like garbanzos and vary your dressings. Leave out the mayo!

37. Limit your intake of meat to just two or three meat choices per week and select more “white” meats than red.

38. You don’t have to give up dessert, just rearrange it. Try mixing fresh fruits with low fat yogurt. Strawberries with banana yogurt is delicious! 39. Add nuts to your yogurt and salads. Chopped nuts make a great alternative to “breaded” style garnishes like croutons.

40. Replace white bread with whole grain bread. If you can find bread that still contains the “wheat germ,” buy it!

41. When baking, applesauce makes a great substitute for shortening.

42. Prepare foods in different ways. Instead of traditional frying, try stir-fry and use a low fat spray or non-stick pan.

43. Reduce portions at meal time. We live in a “jumbo size” world. There’s no reason why the portions we consumer need to be super sized as well.

44. Measure portions one time to get an idea of what a portion of any given food should be. Do it once for each food that you commonly eat. Eventually, you will be able to “eyeball” a proper

serving.

45. Keep a food diary of everything you eat. This is the first step to acquiring a new, healthier life style.

46. Wait no more than five hours between meals or snacks. This regiment will help to stabilize your metabolism.

47. Specific food combinations can help to burn calories by enhancing your metabolism. Eat carbs that are rich in fiber. The take longer to digest and you will feel “fuller” for longer periods of time.

48. Use fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Canned veggies are okay in a pinch, but generally include more salt than you need. By the time they are canned and processed, they have lost much of their nutritive value.

49. Eat more yogurt. Yogurt is a protein as well as a carbohydrate therefore giving you the small amount of energy needed to burn the protein.

50. Add more tuna to your diet. You can grill it, broil it, steam it and poach it, all without any added fat.

Do any of these gloomy thoughts sound familiar ah? It’s likely they do. The occasional case of the blues is perfectly normal, but that doesn’t make dealing with it any easier. If you allow them to, negative thoughts can fester and lead to serious depression. That’s why it’s important to take action early to bust yourself out of a slump.While these little suggestions won’t eliminate your problems, they can help you break a negative thought pattern and stop feeling depressed. If you think you might have a serious mental health problem, don’t hesitate to see a medical professional.

1. Understand life, Understand the emotional cycle – Life is an emotional roller coaster. Some days you feel like nothing can stop you at any. Other days you feel utterly hopeless isn't it. Most of the time you’re somewhere in between. Understanding the pattern of positive and negative emotions will help you put your feelings in perspective. Next time you feel down, just remember that it’s a natural emotion that will inevitably pass. Knowing that a feeling of depression is only temporary makes it less dreadful.

2. Spend days with positive people – Nothing affects the way you think and feel more than the people you interact with. Thoughts (both positive and negative) are contagious. If you are surrounded by negative people, it’s only natural that you’ll start to think and feel the same way they do. To improve your outlook on life, there is only one way, spend time with positive people. Search them out and try to understand the way they see the world. Chances are their happiness will rub off.

3. Take a glance to past success – In the wake of a colossal failure, it’s easy to forget everything you’ve ever done right. Take a few minutes to remember your past accomplishments and achievements and then build yourself up. What made you successful before? What are your strengths? Frequently, this exercise will build self confidence, help you figure out what went wrong, and generate ideas for success in the future.

4. Concentrate on gratitude – It’s human nature to measure ourselves against those ahead of us on the social ladder. Most of us do this regularly. Studies have shown that people care more about being richer than their friends than actually making more money. When you consider everything good in your life and compare it to the problems of less fortunate people, the issue that’s making you depressed won’t seem as serious.

5. Change of the scenery – There is one of the best ways to change the way you feel is to change your environment. When you get in a slump, you start to associate your problems with everything around you. It can get to the point where your environment is a constant reminder of your problems. This can be a dangerous cycle. The solution is to change things. Change doesn’t have to be radical. Cleaning up, adding more lights, or including pleasant decorations can completely change the mood of a room.

6. Break your daily routine - Everyday going through the same routine, day after day, can be monotonous and depressing. It often leads to getting caught in a rut. To get out of it you need to temporarily change your routine. If you can, take a day off from work. Do something you don’t normally have time for or something you’ve never tried. In the long run, taking a day off every now and then to get out of slump will make you happier and more productive.

7. Interact with animals and cool nature – It’s funny when you consider how humans put so much importance on their own tiny problems. Animals don’t think this way, that funny ah ?. A little bird doesn’t mope around because it isn’t an eagle or because another bird beat it to a tasty seed. Animals live in the present moment and they show love unconditionally. Observing and interacting with them will help you get over your problems.

8. Get moving to somewhere or anywhere– As great Johnny Cash famously suggested, “Get a rhythm, when you get the blues.” Moving to a beat makes everyone feel better. The same is true for movement in general. Hitting the gym or going for a walk will help you shed the lethargy that comes with feeling depressed. The more enthusiastic your moments, the better you will start to feel.

9. Think about the big picture. Universe– As Carl Sagan made evident with the Pale Blue Dot, we’re insignificant creatures living in a vast universe on a tiny planet. In the long run, everything we do will probably be forgotten. Some of us might find this depressing, but it shouldn’t be. It means that all our problems are illusory. In a million years no one will remember what you did or didn’t do. What matters is the present moment and enjoying every second of life that we’re blessed with.

10. Do something which can help yourself – Above all, the best way to stop feeling depressed is to take a string action. What is your biggest problem? How can you alleviate it? Once you decide to stop moping and start moving forward you won’t have time to feel depressed. Action will occupy your mind and give you something to look forward to. Once you get some results, you’ll build momentum and positive thinking will keep getting easier.